Civil Administration Shrugs Off Report

Israeli newspaper Haaretz has acquired the certified map of the borders of the West Bank settlement of Eli, showing that contrary to claims by the Netanyahu government’s Civil Administration, at least 166 homes in the settlement are built on land privately-owned by Palestinians.

The most recent survey carried out by the government claimed only two houses were built on private land, but Palestinians from a nearby village have been petitioning Israel’s High Court, noting that they missed many, many others, something that the map confirms.

Though the High Court has often ruled in favor of Palestinian petitioners in the past, the Eli situation may be difficult, because Israel recognizes no actual property rights in the area around Eli, and all ownership claims rely on documentation from Ottoman Empire era Palestine.

The Civil Administration shrugged off the new reports, saying that they have “no plans” to take any action related to the Eli settlement. Recently, however, the Netanyahu government has vigorously pushed to retroactively legalize illegal settlement construction, so even if the High Court does rule, it might be overturned by such a move.

I love how the Israelis treat documentation from Ottoman-era Palestine as a one-way street. A Palestinian has the deed to his house? Die, terrorist! A Jew bought a village from an absentee Turkish feudal plantation owner in 1893? Man the bulldozers!

Jews rightfully demand property taken from them by the Nazis, Paintings and such that are in museums and private collections are often seized by courts and returned to their rightful owners, Palestinian owned land should be seized and returned to the Palestinian owners!

[…] before 1948, and likewise Israel explicitly refuses to recognize any property rights at all in certain parts of the West Bank, namely the parts where Palestinians own land that settlements are built on. […]